NNSA Blog

More than 275 individuals from NNSA and its laboratories, and academia attended this year’s Stewardship Science Academic Programs Annual Review Symposium held in Santa Fe, N.M., earlier this month. The symposium featured overviews of work to date from ongoing grants and cooperative agreements from NNSA’s Stewardship Science Academic Alliances Program, the NNSA-supported grants from the Joint Program for High Energy Density Laboratory Plasmas, and grants awarded under the National Laser Users’ Facility.

Some 100 posters were on display during this year’s session on topics including low energy nuclear science, properties of materials under extreme conditions, high energy density physics, and predictive science. Poster session winners are:

Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS), managing and operating contractor of NNSA’s Pantex Plant and the Y-12 National Security Complex, this week donated $10,000 to Bushland Independent School District (ISD) in Texas. The donation will help create a multi-level robotics program for the school district. The donation also serves as an investment in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and helps encourage the next generation of scientists, engineers and technical professionals.

The district plans to form elementary, middle and high school teams to participate in FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics competitions. CNS also helped Bushland ISD form a mentor-protégé relationship with Oak Ridge Schools in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

About the photo:Don Wood (left), Bushland ISD Superintendent, discusses how the CNS donation will help the Bushland robotics program with Savannah Gates, a CNS Pantex engineer and 2008 Bushland graduate.

Sandia National Laboratories has begun making silicon wafers for three nuclear weapon modernization programs, the largest production series in the history of its Microsystems and Engineering Sciences Applications (MESA) complex.

MESA’s silicon fab in October began producing base wafers for Application-Specific Integrated Circuits for the B61-12 Life Extension Program, W88 Alteration 370 and W87 Mk21 Fuze Replacement nuclear weapons. Planning and preparation took years and involved more than 100 people.

About the photo:Sandia’a Dana Pulliam enters information before running an operation in Sandia’s MESA complex. The fab has begun making silicon wafers for three nuclear weapon programs in the largest production series in MESA’s history.

Three children of NNSA’s National Security Campus employees were among 300 students from 39 countries selected to attend the Honeywell Leadership Challenge Academy. The scholarship program uses interactive technology and science-oriented workshops and team exercises to teach students leadership skills in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Held at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., the program engages students in team-building challenges such as building their own rockets and participating in simulated astronaut training, shuttle missions and a moon walk. Students also meet scientists, engineers, and former astronauts, who help reinforce core leadership competencies and share their first-hand experience.

Sandia National Laboratories employees and retirees in 2014 increased donations to the United Way of Central New Mexico by 8.2 percent as compared to the previous year, giving $6,556,666 to the charitable organization.

The 2014 campaign stressed participation rather than dollars, and a record 77.3 percent of the Sandia workforce contributed. Employees with five or fewer years increased participation by 6 percent to 69 percent.

Albuquerque Reads is a program supported by the United Way of Central New Mexico’s Community Fund. The Career Guidance Institute administers the program, which is a partnership with the Albuquerque Public Schools to help kindergarten students at Title 1 schools through one-on-one tutoring. Photo courtesy of the United Way of Central New Mexico.

More than 200 students converged in Kansas City recently for the annual Science Bowl Regional Competition to answer questions like, "One-hundredth of a millibar equals how many Pascals?" (The answer is 1).

During the many rounds of competition, students showed a remarkable understanding of chemistry, geology, physics, biology, electronics, and more as they used brainpower to compete their way through several rounds of the science-focused contests. Some carried out a theme - from wearing pajamas to wild hairstyles to face paint. Many brought cheering sections.

At the end of the grueling day, Blue Valley West High School won the Kansas division and Fort Zumwalt South won the Missouri division. Both teams will advance to Washington, D.C., to compete against 65 other regional winners at the DOE’s National Science Bowl from April 30 – May 4.

Support for the Science Knowledge Bowl is an important piece of NNSA’s efforts to promote science, math, and technology education in order to keep America technologically competitive and to stoke the pipeline with future employees.

NNSA has released its 2016 Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan (SSMP). The plan documents NNSA’s 25-year strategic plan for accomplishing its core stockpile stewardship mission area of maintaining the safety, security and effectiveness of the nuclear stockpile without nuclear testing.

The SSMP describes NNSA’s comprehensive approach to maintaining and recapitalizing the scientific and production infrastructure of the nation’s nuclear security enterprise.

As the SSMP details, NNSA’s life extension program remain on schedule and on budget. Significant changes from the last SSMP include: the W88 Alteration 370 effort; the cruise missile warhead life extension program (LEP) is now designated as the W80-4 LEP; additional resources have also been requested to ensure the nation’s long-term ability to perform highly-enriched uranium operations at Y-12 and at Los Alamos National Laboratory; and the revised the Uranium Processing Facility Project design concept.

Medical patients, both locally and potentially nationwide, should be the beneficiaries of the first-ever public-private partnership agreement between National Security Technologies, LLC (NSTec), and Henderson, Nevada-based Global Medical Isotope Systems, LLC (GMIS). The agreement on research and development aims to enable production of an essential radioactive isotope used in millions of medical diagnostic imaging procedures every year.

Known primarily as the management and operations contractor for the Nevada National Security Site, NSTec is leveraging its traditional national security role with the signing of its first CRADA. The agreement describes NSTec’s technical integration, modeling, materials, and design support to GMIS’s mission in the development and deployment of a ground-breaking approach in the production of the radioactive isotope - molybdenum-99 (Mo-99).

NNSA recently celebrated the successful completion of the Uranium Processing Facility site readiness subproject at Y-12. The project was completed $20 million under budget, on schedule and work was achieved with more than 600 days without a recordable accident or injury.

The project included the Bear Creek Road extension and the creation of a haul road.

The successful delivery of the project signifies the first milestone of moving UPF forward and meeting NNSA’s commitment to cease programmatic operations in Building 9212 by 2025 for a cost not to exceed $6.5 billion. UPF is the U.S. Department of Energy’s single largest capital investment in Tennessee since World War II and NNSA’s largest-ever construction project. UPF will replace the hub of the nation’s uranium processing operations.

This week, NNSA Principal Deputy Administrator Madelyn Creedon was at the Savannah River Site. She visited the nation’s only center for extracting, recycling and processing tritium, an isotope of hydrogen that is a vital component to the nation’s nuclear defense. She also visited SRS’ facilities for supporting NNSA’s Nonproliferation-Material Management & Disposition program, and the Savannah River National Laboratory, which is an integral part of the Savannah River Tritium Enterprise, in addition to being an important contributor to NNSA’s nonproliferation missions.

About the photos:Lee Schifer, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions Director of Tritium Operations, and NNSA-Savannah River Field Office Manager Doug Dearolph, show Creedon the Savannah River Tritium Enterprise facilities.